{"id":571777,"date":"2026-01-31T00:02:18","date_gmt":"2026-01-31T00:02:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/571777\/"},"modified":"2026-01-31T00:02:18","modified_gmt":"2026-01-31T00:02:18","slug":"fred-vanvleet-addresses-rumors-about-him-being-rocket-for-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/571777\/","title":{"rendered":"Fred VanVleet addresses rumors about him being “Rocket For Life”"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Houston Rockets<\/a> (29-17) could use the veteran leadership, savvy playmaking and 3-point shooting that Fred VanVleet<\/a> can provide, but his status for this season remains in serious uncertainty after he suffered a torn ACL<\/a> in September. Even when the veteran point guard does return to the court, there is no telling how he will bounce back at 32 years old. Therefore, the organization could be tempted to trade him in the future, with the offseason being the more likely time to complete a deal.<\/p>\n

VanVleet has a $25 million player option for the 2026-27 campaign, but if he signs an extension, Houston can aggregate his salary in a blockbuster trade for a star. There is considerable pressure on management to capitalize on Kevin Durant’s remaining years of stardom, and despite being a 2019 NBA champion and former All-Star, this version of VanVleet may not maximize the Rockets’ championship aspirations. What people think on this matter is irrelevant, however.<\/p>\n

The former Wichita State pillar has an implied no-trade clause, and he sees himself<\/a> as a \u201cRocket for life,\u201d according to Chron’s Michael Shapiro. Furthermore, some people in VanVleet’s camp reportedly believe he could transition to Houston’s front office after retiring. Interestingly, the undrafted talent decided to address<\/a> the first part of Shapiro’s story.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a quote from me anywhere in the article,\u201d Fred VanVleet responded to a user on X. While it is true that Shapiro did not directly quote him, fans are still going to speculate about No. 5’s future with the franchise. But he is focused on his recovery and doing what he can to help nudge the team forward.<\/p>\n

Amen Thompson is manning point guard duties in VanVleet’s absence. He entered the NBA with natural playmaking skills<\/a>, so the Rockets can get by with him in that role for now. Once the playoffs begin, however, it may become apparent that Houston requires more offensive firepower.<\/p>\n

Assuming he survives the Feb. 5 trade deadline like most expect, VanVleet will have a couple more months to complete his rehab before the postseason begins.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Houston Rockets (29-17) could use the veteran leadership, savvy playmaking and 3-point shooting that Fred VanVleet can…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":571778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3794],"tags":[7,866,292,194,4066,6,211],"class_list":{"0":"post-571777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston-rockets","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-fred-vanvleet","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-rockets","12":"tag-houstonrockets","13":"tag-nba","14":"tag-rockets"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115986782328837162","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=571777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/571777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/571778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=571777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=571777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=571777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}